Reel



Jan. 3, 1928.

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Jan. 3, 1928.

L. JOHNSON REEL Filed Aug. 5, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR L. JOHNSONJan. 3, 1928.l

REEL

Filed Aug. 5 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Jan. 3, 1928. 1,654,651

L. JOHNSON REEL Filed Aug. 5, 1925 4 sheets-sheet 4 b Rn) nl D U m,

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i o, u) 1 N Y? Y Sx FH N 5 INVENTOR L 15 better picliling,

Patented 3,- 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

lI-ANE .ioHNsoN, E INGRAN, rENNsYLVANIA, AssIGNon To UNITED ENGINEERINGa EOUNDRY COMPANY, 0E PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A oonPonATIoN 0EPENNSYLVANIA.

REEL.

Application inea August 5, 1925. senat No. 4am.

The present invention relates broadly to the art oi' metal Working, andmore particularly to apparatus generally referred to. as reels effectivefor coiling strip material, 6 the expression strip material being used.in

its generic sense as being definitive' of different structural shapeshaving suoli characteristics that it is desirable to coil the same.

At the present time it is customary in the 10 art to which the presentinvention relates to provide mechanism for coiling strip material,either for the purpose of facilitating liandlingand transportationthereot' or for the purpose of breaking the scale to insure or both. Thepresent invention Irelates broadly to apparatus ot this character, andfor purposes of illustration is in one instance Ashown as applied to areel of the character disclosed in the patent to Florence C. Biggert,Jr., No. 1,492,954, of

May 6, 1924, and in another instance .1s

shown applied to a reel of the character disy closed in my prior PatentNo. 1,462,411 of July 171923, although it will be apparent '-5 that theutility of the invention is not limited with respect to the particularconstruction of the reel with which it is used.

In reels of the 'general character shown in the patents referred to,pressure is continuao ously maintained on the material being coiled bythe action of pressure actuated means in the form of levers or rollers,or a 'combination of the tivo, having a resilientconnection with a cagecommon to all of the pressure actuated means. This cage in tuin has anoperative connection with a s fluid pressure cylinder adapted to movethe same as may be required at predetermined periods in the operation ofthe reel, and

40 i adapted during the coiling operation to coms` pensate for increasedpressure exerted on the pressure actuated means by the increase in thediameter of the coil and thereby maintain a substantially constanteffective pressuretliroughout the ceiling operation. In actual practice,and particularly Where the reel is being used for the coiling of stripsof ditl'ereiit widths, it has been found necessary to ve carefully andaccurately con- 5o trol the fluid nressurein the cvlinderconstitutingthe compensating means. This has required almost constantattention on the part of the operator andmakes the apparatusobjectionable to some extent by reason of the attention thus required.

The present invention has for one of its objects an improved form ofcompensating mechanism adjustable to adapt the ap aratus to a Wide rangeof material and e. ec tive in such manner as to make accurate con# trolof the luid pressure unnecessary.

In tlie accompanying drawings there are shown, for purposes ofillustration only, certain preferred embodiments of the presentinvention, it being understood that-the drawings do not define thelimits of my invention, as changes in lthe construction and operationdisclosed therein may be made without departing either from the spiritof the invention or the scope' of my broader claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an end away and partly in section, illustrating one f ormVof reel embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a View similar to Figure 1, illustrating the parts in theposition they assume upon completion of the coiling operation;

Figure 3 is a. detail View, on an enlarged scale, illustrating the lostmotion and resilient connecting means between the compensating cylinderand the cage; and

Figure 4pis a view similar to Figure 1, illustrating the inventionapplied to a reel ot the character shown in my priorpatent referred to.

The general construction of the reel shown in Figures. 1-3 is similar tothat disclosed elevation, partly broken .in the patent to-Biggert No.1,492,954, and

tion by the use of Spacer sleeves 5-through which may extend bolts 6asunderstood in the art.

Rotatably carried by the plates and 4jV 1n any desired'manner 1s a cagehavingv a plurality .of inwardly projecting.v lugs 8 through whichyextendbolts 9 which at their i.. o ite ends oooperatewith, bear-inoblocksbearingfblocks are 1n tlirn providedl with' end studs 11-journaled in the arms 12 of pressurectuated'coiling' means,

each having a pivotal mounting 13 extending between the side platesofthe reel.- These l pivotal -mountings -conveniently extend through hubs14'which carry the'arms 12 which arepreferably spaced to receive thebearing blocks therebetween. v'Il he hubs' I v also preferably havesecured thereto spaced projecting arms 15. as clearly illustrated inlthe patent referred to, wh1ch carry therebetween pressure rollers 16,the tends 1'( .of these, arms being shaped to constltuteguides.extending between adjacent rollers.

iof'sections 19 constituting a col'lapsi l* drel upon which themateriales to be wound.

the 'form of a strip, y as thence throu whereby the'mjateal some tensionduringthe'coiling operation to cause the superimposedr layers to tightlyen-` The side plate i isconstructed to permit the passage therethroughof a shaft18lwh1'ch maybe shaped to cooperate with a lurality Theopposite plate 3 is formed with an enlarged central the discharge m thereel of adbody of coiled material.

the reel throughout the complete coiling operation.y l.

In operation the shaft 18 may be driven in any desired manner,l butpreferably at a speed greater than the speed 'ofthe rolls 21,

gage one another. As the material builds up on the ycollapsible mandrelor core, it is engaged bythe rollers 16 and the guiding portion 17 ofThis causes the pressure actuated means to A move outwardly asthe'diameter of the coil f increases, this outward movement beingresisted by compression springs 23 surrounding the bolts 9l and bearingat one end against fthe; bearing blocks 10. and at the opposite end'.

against the coopera-ting lugs 8. t will Qthusghhqe4 apparent that thesprings 23' are ef fectivevfor resisting outward movement of le manftpening 20 adapted to permit,

may be fed ,to the reel-A ture of nursing l.with is maintained under thepressure actuated mea-ns;`

-the piston in th the pressure actuated means, but that they permit suchvpressure actuated means to move outwardly relatively to each other andrelatively to the cage 7, should such movement be necessary. The guide22 similarly moves outwardly thereby beingautomatically maintaine inposition to most effectively guide the material.`

If the cage 7 is held against any movement during .the coilin pressureexerted y the sprlngs 23 continuoperation, the increasing ously changesthe yoperatlng characteristics i of the pressure actuated means. lInorder to overcome such. a condition of operation it has heretofore,been-proposed, as illustrated in the patent 'referred to, to 4provide afluid pressure compensating cylinder 24 o erativeyconnected to thecageand adapte .to'per-l mit rotation thereof against the pressure inthe cylinder. lReferring to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings', it will beapparent that as the coil increases in diameter the cage would have atendency to rotate in a clockwise di vrection andthereby compensate forthe compression of the springs 23. In actual operation, however, it hasvbeen found that -it is necessar to accurately control the fluidpressure in the cylinder and makechanges in this duid pressureinaccordanc'ewith the cross sectional areaof the material being coiled.This has required extremelyv close regulation of theluid pressure on thepart of the l operator and has necessitated almost oon- 4stent attentiondurin the coiling operation. l In` accordancey with the resent" embodi`ment of the invention, this o jectfionahle feathe cylinder is obviatedby providing a resiliently controlled lost motion connection between thecylinder and the ing the arms 12 of one of the pressure actuated meansto a point outside of the cage 7 afllid providing a pin 25 extendingbetween t a piston rod 27' proJecting :from-the fluid' -pressurecylinder 24. The piston rod ata pointintermediate its endsmay be rovideda crosshead 28` guided in suitaili) ways 29 on the base 2 of the reelfor relieving the piston rod from tortional strains. Itwill Thismay beaccomplished by extendearms and journaled therein. This pin f 'extendsthrough ay slot 26 in the outer end of le slidebe apparent that the slot26"constitutes a lost motion 'connection between the pressure actuatedmeans and the fluid pressure cylinder. 'Due tothis lostl motionconnection t e ressure actuated means, may move outwar v as beforedescribed without-the neced" sity of actually Vproducing' any movementof e cylinder 24. The length of the slot 26 is preferably such as topermit substantially fulloutward movement of the pressure actuated meansbefore the lost mo- .'tion is completelytaken up.. Thereafter,

ifoutward movement of the pressurev actuated me'ans continues, thecylinder will come 'into operation and compensatelfor Compression on asbolts 31. With la plate 30 rigidly secured to the outer end of thepiston rod 27 by suitable means, such this construction the plate 30 isheld against movement relatively to the piston rod. The pin 25 passesthrough links 32 secured to a movable crosshead 33. This movablecrosshead may have projecting therefrom one or more uiding sleeves 34extending through Vsuitable openings in the plate 30 to guide therelative movement between the crosshead and the plate. Also carried bythe crosshead is a plurality of rods 35 herein illustratedas being fivein number and each having a threaded outer end 36 carrying a thumb nut37 adapted to be threaded to different positions on the rods" to varythe compression lor initial load on springs 38 carried thereby, In theillustrated embodiment of the invention, springs 38 are shown as beingmounted on only two of the rods 35. It has been found that such aconstruction may-.be very effectively used with strips up to 8 inches inwidth. For slightly wider strips, springs may be added to thecentral rod35. Under still other conditions of operation, springs will be appliedload on the "springs be just sufficient toclose the reel by moving` tothe four outer rods only, while for strips of maximum widththe springswill be appliedto all of therods. Preferably, under Aall conditions ofoperation springs will be maintained on therrods as illustrated inFigure 3, irrespective of what other rods may have springs appliedthereto, and the initial on these two rods will 'the pressure actuatedmeans to the position k"so .which will gra on the springs shown inFigure 1, and to take up the slack on the other springs". Thereafter, asthe diameter of the coil increases the pin 25 will tend to move totheleft, as viewed in Figure 3, thereby carrying with it the crossheadually increase the load on the springs 38.I This building up of the load38 will in turn control the movement of the cage 7 in a clockwisedirection, as viewed vin Figures 1 and 2, and pro vides acompensatinmeans in lieu of the fluid pressure cylin er effective for` main-ltaining a substantially constant compression on the springs 23throughout the ceiling operation. By initially determining the ropernumber of springs 38 and the initial oad thereon, it is possible to theright operating conditions for strips of different characteristics andthereby enable the use of a wide range of pressures the fluid pressurecylinder. Upon the concluobtain exactly sion of the coiling operation itwill be ob-` vious that the-fluid pressure cylinder may be energizedlfor bodilymoving all of the pressure actuated means out of contact withthe coiled materialto permit discharge of the same. Thisconcludingmovement accomplished by the fluid pressure cylinder isindicated in dottedA lines in Figure 2 of the I drawings. 4 v f It hasalso been'found desirable to provide means for counterweighting thepressure actuated means. `Thls. counterweightingIv be accomplished `byex-l may conveniently tending the arms 12 of one of the .pressureactuated means and securing a counterweight 39 to the extended arms.This countcrweight will preferably be substantially of the order of theweight of the pressure actuated means so as to substantial] exactlybalance the same. In the event tiecounterweight actually underbalancesthe pressure actuated ymeans, this underbalancing may be taken care ofby slightly increasing the initial load on the springs 38,-while ifthecounterweightslightly overbalances the pressure actuated means theinitial load on the., springs 38 may be correspondinglylessenedal 'l Itwill bea parent that the operation herein obtaine by directly securingthe counterweight to one of the'pressure'actuated means and directlyconnecting'gthe fluid pressure cylinder and the resilient ycompensatingmeans to another 'of the pressureA actuated means is broadly the euivalent `of that which would be obtained, y directly counterbalancingthe cage 7 or making con nection to the cage 7 for the fluid pressurecylinder as disclosed in the patent previously. referred to. v A InFigure 4 vof the'draw-ings there is illustrated a form of theinventionin whichthe counterweight and the resilient compensating meansare so secured in position that they are effective simultaneously on allot the pressure actuated means, as vwillv be the case in the precedingfigure if these parts' were directly secured to the cage and theintermediate springs 23 omitted entirely. In this figure of thedrawings, parts correspondin to the arts already described aredesignated by the same reference numerals, having, however, a primeaixed thereto. The operation of the reel disclosedin this embodimentissubstantiallyI the same as that lreferred to, the material being fedforwardly into a guide 22 by means'of pinch rolls 21- into the spacedefined by the shaped ends '17 of the levers 15. In this embodiment ofthe invention no core is ro-vided in the ceiling;` space, the rolls 16being positively driven in a suitable manner, as disclosed, for example,in my prior Patent No. 1.462,411, before referred to. The arms 12 of thevarious pressure actuated means. vare directly andrigidly interconnectedby the rolls 16 and y means of linlcs (i0, whereby all of the rolls lomove outwardly' or inwardly in unison. in addition to tbc movable rolls,there is preferably provided a roll fill adjacent the guide Q2 which isstationary, this roll defining at all times a predetermined point in theperiphery of the material being coiled, 'to thereby obviate thenecessity of providing a movable guide.

It will be apparent that inasmuch as the counter-weight 39 is directlysecured to one of the arms l2 which is in turn rigidly interconnectedwith the other arms, all of the pressure actuated means must move inunison. ln like manner the compensating means is effective, asliereinl'iefore pointed out` for simultaneously acting on all of thepressure actuated means` .llie advantages of the present invention arisefrom the provision of a reel in which the compression exerted during theceiling,y operation may be maintained substantially constant,irrespective ot' changes m diameter of the coil and in 'which thecompensation eilected by resilient means, accommodating' itself' to aWide range of material.

Further advantages are obtained by pro vidinp; a fluid pressure cylinderhaving a lost motion connection with the pressure actuated means.

I claim:

l. ln a coiler, pressure actuated means adapted to engage the materialbeing` coiled, and movable toward and away from such material, and meansnormally out of opera- 'tive connection with said pressure actuatedmeans but operative at will for effectingr movement of said pressureactuated means, away from 'the material being coiled, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a coiler, pressure actuated means adapted to engage the materialbeingr coiled, and movable toward and away from such material, and meansnormally out of operative connection with said pressure actuated meansbut operative at will for effecting movement of said pressure.actuatedmeans away from the material beine; coiled, said pressure actuated meansbeing individually movable relative to said. second mentioned means,substantially as described.

fin a coiler, pressure actuated means adapted to engage the materialbeing coiled and yield relatively and independently dur ingr theceiling' operation 'io accurately coul'orm thereto, and yielding' meansfor simultaneously moving' all of said means out of engagement with saidmaterial. .said pres- `sure actuated means being movable rela 'vcly 'tosaid yielding means during' tlie ceiling operation.

Ll. ln a coiler, pressure actuated means adapted' to engage the materialbeingn coiled, means for moving1 said pressure actuated means out ofgement vvi'tli said material.,

said means respectively being connected to permit a relativepredetermined movement therebetween to permit the same to conform to thematerial being coiled, and resilient means controlling such relativemovement, substantially as described.

5.1n a coiler, pressure actuated means adapted to engage the materialbeing coiled, yielding,r means for moving said pressure actuated meansout of engagement with said material, said means respectively beingconnected to permit alrelative predetermined movement therebetween, topermit the same to conform to the material being,r coiled, and resilientmeans controlling such relative movement, substantially as described.

6. In a coiler, pressure actuated means adapted to engage the materialbeing coiledA and yield relatively and independently durinfnr theceiling operation, a combined fluid pressure and resilient meanseffective uniformly on all of said pressure actuated means forsimultaneously controlling all of said pressure actuated means,substantially as described.

7. In a coiler, individually operable pressure actuated means adapted toengage the material being coiled, and resilient means effectiveuniformly. on all of said pressure actuated means for simultaneouslycontrolling all of said pressure actuated means, said resilient'meanspermitting yielding of said pressure actuated means as' required duringthe ceiling operation, substantially as described.

8. In a coiler, individually operable pressure actuated means adapte-dto engage the material being coiled, resilient means simultaneouslyeffective on all of said pressure actuated means, said resilient meanspermittime,l yielding of said Vpressure actuated means as requiredduring the ceiling operation, and fluid pressure means forsimultaneously effecting movement of all of said pressure actuatedmeans, said fluid pressure means and pressure actuated means beingoperatively interconnected to permit relative predetermined movementtherebetween during the ceiling operation.

9. In a coiler, a plurality of individually and relatively movablepressure actuated ceiling' means adapted to engage the material beingcoiled, and cou'ipensatiug: means comprisinggn springs sinmltaneouslyoperable on all of said pressure actuated means. substantially asdescribed.

l0. The combination with `a reel for the ceiling of strip material, ofcompensating means controlling the pressure of material beingn coiled,said means comprisingr a plurality of spring carrying members, and aspring' on at least one of said members, substantially as described.

ll. rllhe combination with a reel for the ceiling of strip material, ofcompensating leo l lo

lil)

I means controllin includin the pressure of material being coiled, saimeans comprising a plurality` of similar spring carrying members, andmeansfor individually controlling the initial compression of a spring onany one 'of said members, substantially vas described.

12. In a-coiler, pressure actuated means rolls, an means forsimultaneously moving all ofv said pressure actuated means in apredetermined direction, lsaid last mentioned means being operativelconnected to said pressure actuated means to permit coiling' to occurwithout movement of said `last mentioned means.

13. In a coiler,

pressure actuated means adapted to engage the material being coiled Vand to yield relatively and independently :during the coiling operation,lui pressure a plurality of positively` drivenv means and operativelyconnected thereto,

said resilient means vpermitting yielding of f said pressure actuatedmeans as required durin the ceiling operation,

substantially as descri ed.'

In testimony vwhereof I liavehereunto set 35 v my lland.

LANE JOHNSON. i

